Hillary Clinton on why she lost and “the most important” mistake she made

Hillary Clinton has spent the last 10 months trying to figure out why she isn’t the president of the United States.

“I am good,” Clinton told “Sunday Morning” anchor Jane Pauley. “But that doesn’t mean I am complacent or resolved about what happened. It still is very painful. It hurts a lot.” Jane Pauley:

As the polls closed, Clinton’s supporters gathered in a New York City convention center, expecting to see history being made. But as the returns came in, the celebratory mood began to fade.

“I just kinda went in the bedroom, laid down on the bed, just thought, ‘Okay. I just have to wait this out,'” Clinton said. “But then, midnight, I decided, ‘Well– you know, looks like it’s not gonna work.'”

After midnight, she called Donald Trump, the president-elect. And then she called the White House.

“I felt like I had let everybody down,” she said.

Morning came, and the nation was waiting to hear from her.

“I had not drafted a concession speech. I’d been working on a victory speech,” she laughed.

And then, on what she thought would be her first day as president-elect, Hillary and Bill Clinton headed to their home in Chappaqua, New York.

“I just felt this enormous letdown, just kind of loss of feeling and direction and sadness,” Clinton said. “And, you know, Bill just kept saying, ‘Oh, you know, that was a terrific speech,’ tryin’ to just kinda bolster me a little bit. Off I went, into a frenzy of closet cleaning, and long walks in the woods, playing with my dogs, and, as I write– yoga, alternate nostril breathing, which I highly recommend, tryin’ to calm myself down. And– you know, my share of Chardonnay. It was a very hard transition. I really struggled. I couldn’t feel, I couldn’t think. I was just gob-smacked, wiped out.”

Weeks passed. But she couldn’t remain in seclusion forever.

“You know, after the first of the year, I had a big decision to make. Was I going to go to the inauguration?” she said.

Defeated candidates don’t necessarily attend the inauguration, but Clinton was in a unique position.

“But I’m a former first lady, and former presidents and first ladies show up,” she said. “It’s part of the demonstration of the continuity of our government. And so there I was, on the platform, you know, feeling like an out-of-body experience. And then his speech, which was a cry from the white nationalist gut.”